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Mexico Tour Bus Crash Kills Eight Americans

A crash involving a Mexican tour bus
killed 12 people, including eight Americans, as the bus transported
tourists to Mayan ruins at Chaccoben. Most of those on the tour bus were from
two Royal Caribbean cruise ships. Along with the American victims were two
people from Sweden, one person from Canada and a tour guide from Mexico.

Royal Caribbean Passengers on Land for Sightseeing
Tour When Bus Crashed

The crash happened on December 19, 2017, in Costa
Maya, along the Caribbean coast. Thirty-one passengers were on their way from
Mahahual to the Mayan ruins site. Included in those were passengers from two
Royal Caribbean ships, Celebrity Equinox and Serenade of the Seas. Both ships
departed from Florida.

Following the crash, the American Embassy in Mexico
issued a statement:

"We can confirm the death of eight
U.S. citizens as a result of the December 19 crash in Quintana Roo,
Mexico. An additional seven U.S. citizens were injured in the accident. We
express our heartfelt condolences to all those affected by this tragedy. We are
in contact with local authorities, and have staff on the scene and at local
hospitals to assist victims and loved ones."

Injured passengers were taken to nearby hospitals. The
injured tourists were from Canada, Brazil, and the United States.

Officials say at least 12 people were killed and 18 injured in a bus crash carrying cruise ship passengers in Mexico. We know Americans are among the injured. @DonDahlerCBS has the latest: pic.twitter.com/lknyUR8IqJ

Behar's husband, Moises, and 15-year-old son, David,
were among the injured. They were flown by an Air Force plane to a hospital in
South Florida. Moises suffered broken ribs while David was examined for a
possible knee injury.

As investigators in Mexico determine what caused the
tragedy, one of the cruise ships—Serenade of the Seas—brought passengers back
to Port Everglades in the early morning hours of December 22. Survivors
described the chaos following the accident.

"We saw all of the bodies laying down
with blood all over them," said John Witten, from
Jacksonville. It was not like United States where you have ambulances
everywhere. I feel sorry for the people because there were no helicopters—there
was no nothing but they might have stayed out there for two hours with blood
all over them." Witten was on a second bus.

Other passengers said they were concerned no one told
them they should put on their seatbelts.

"I was just mentioning to my mom when we were on
the bus 'we should put our seatbelt' because nobody is mentioning it to
us," said Sandra Novoa. "Because if we have an accident, we're the
first people that will fly out of these buses."

At least a dozen people are dead and several others are injured after a tour bus crashed on its way to a Mayan ruin https://t.co/CdkYBwoLfi

According to reports, passengers who suffered more
serious injuries in the Mexico Tour Bus Crash were scheduled to arrive home via
the Celebrity Equinox a day after the Serenade of the Seas returned.

"It definitely impacted some of our joyous times
that day because I feel so terrible for those families. But at the same time
I'm grateful that we were safe and everything was OK with us," said
Jennifer Uhl.

A reporter for CBS who was on the Celebrity Equinox
described the mood as passengers made their way back to the ship.

"It is an absolute
tragedy," said Scott Mayman.
"There were very emotional scenes on board the ship this afternoon as
everybody re-boarded the vessel wondering what was going on."

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